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Trump keeps embracing data centers even as they become toxic in midterm races (apnews.com)
submitted 1 day ago by to c/politics@lemmy.world
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Donald Trump, speaking alongside cryptocurrency leaders at the White House this week, made a statement that Republican and Democratic candidates alike wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole.

“If I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state, and I had a chance to get a big plant in, an AI plant or a data center,” Trump said, “I would absolutely want it because the jobs are enormous and the money paid, the taxes paid, are just enormous.”

It’s not the kind of message anyone is using in competitive midterm races.

The race to build data centers, which power artificial intelligence and cloud computing, has run aground amid frustration from voters who don’t want to live near the massive warehouse campuses. Even the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm warned that anger over data centers — some of which dwarf football stadiums and use more energy than small cities — could cost them a seat.

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[–] 2 points 1 day ago (1 child)

What would happen if the United States had no data centers at all? Would building them elsewhere make any difference to customers’ experience? I assume YouTube would definitely be finished.

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  • [–] 17 points 1 day ago (3 children)

    The U.S. already had enough data centers for websites like YouTube; all this new data center construction is going to power more AI slop, all the while harming the environment and making consumer electronics needlessly expensive.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago

    That’s why I came to have this question. YouTube’s RTB system is another example: low latency is crucial to this advertising system, and it’s one of the reasons YouTube has continued expanding its data centers, aside from AI.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago*

    In fact, I once read an article about how YouTube exploits and monopolizes ISPs’ standards and services to reduce its own costs. Data centers are a key part of it. American consumers are the biggest victims. The main reason this has gone unnoticed is that it doesn’t produce such obvious pollution or public controversy.

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